A report issued by Canada's Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance is making a series of recommendations aimed at connecting the country's climate objectives with its economic ambitions and investment mandates.
In order to shift the discussion on climate change from being a burden to an opportunity, the report, "Mobilizing Finance for Sustainable Growth," recommended that Canada map out an explicit 30-year transition path to a sustainable economy, create green savings incentives and establish a Canadian Sustainable Finance Action Council as a cross-departmental unit to advise and assist the federal government to implement the panel's recommendations.
The report also recommended that the Canadian government invest in "five essential building blocks to scale and 'mainstream' sustainable finance in Canada." Specifically, the report recommends that Canada create a center for climate information and analytics; implement a task force for climate-related financial disclosures; clarify the scope of fiduciary duty; foster a knowledgeable financial support ecosystem, which includes education, consulting, audit and disclosure; and insert climate risk into the monitoring, regulation and legislation of the financial system.
The panel also identified seven opportunities to develop and scale-up market structures and financial offerings. Among them was integrating sustainability into asset management to become a standard operating procedure.
